A Review of the Role Playing Game Supplement Monster of the Week – Barang Beetles

Monster of the Week – Barang Beetles by Daron Woodson is a role playing game supplement published by Abandoned Arts through Fat Goblin Games for use with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. As such, it is covered by the Open Game License and some parts are considered to be Open Game Content as a result.

The supplement is available as a five-page PDF from DriveThruRPG for $1 although it was purchased at a reduced price as part of a special bundle. One page is the front cover and one the Open Game License.

The Monster of the Week explains that this series is inspired by the television trope of the same name, where something new – which might not be an actual monster – is introduced every week and is the focus of that episode (such things rarely appear again). It explains that this supplement introduces the barang beetle.

The game stats for barang beetles come first; they burrow inside injured creatures, can erase memory and have a type of hivemind. The descriptive text has them created by a tyrant who wanted parasitic creatures creating that could control the minds of their hosts.

Curing a Barang explains how to cure someone infested by them – made harder in some ways because an infested individual has likely forgotten their infestation.

Finally, Mambabarang Magic has three new spells associated with the barang. One allows the caster to eavesdrop on their hivemind and control a swarm, including influencing infected hosts, another is similar but more powerful and the final one makes barang beetles be attracted to the target.

Monster of the Week – Barang Beetles

The PDF lacks bookmarks and is short enough that these are not needed. Navigation is fine. The text maintains a two-column colour format and appeared to be free of error. There is a single custom colour illustration. Presentation is good.

This supplement details a single monster, as might be expected by the name, but it does have some interesting game fluff and related spells. Whilst it is hardly a complete bestiary, it does introduce a new, and rather nasty, creature. Monster of the Week – Barang Beetles is an interesting little supplement and it can be found by clicking here.